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[mv3p0]

Soooooo, for some reason my last post didn't work? Maybe it takes a while or something, either way I am posting again

So basically my girlfriend and I are at a bit of a cross roads (excuse the cliche) in our life and are seriously considering taking diving on as a career in the next couple of years. After a long discussion over the phone with a local pro he suggested that we take a while, log a whole whack load of dives, and get as many certificates as possible without becoming a paper collector and I think that is the advice we are going to take.

He actually is the one that suggested I post something on here to see what people had to say about it, so here goes.
I was just wondering what kind of opportunities lay ahead for a couple (my girlfriend and I) becoming professional divers with a lot of certificates. We want to travel the world, and honestly money is not the main thing here.

He (the local pro) was telling me that cruise ships are good, same with places like club med because, although you do not make much, your room and board is free. Since my girlfriend and I are debt free, and we will be sticking with a budget, even $700 a month each would be more than enough, so we are by no means looking to become rich. Just wanting to do something that we think we will thoroughly enjoy.

Yeah, any feedback would help loads, thanks for your time!

Best regards, Mathew and Brittany.

 

[kaerius]

If you want to travel around, and live off of diving, then basically you need to find a good cashcow place to work, to fund working in other places. Trust me, most of the time when working in the dive industry you'll make less than your living costs.

There's a few places that pay really well, but they can be hard to find. Liveaboards are indeed good because the food and board is free. Liveaboards in the carribean can be cashcow workplaces(often the tips can be more than double of your salary). A few other places such as the UAE can also be good money, as long as you can stand working there.

My best advice is to dive a lot, but also to go for it, do the DM course, and then the IDC, and collect _instructor_ certificates. The two biggest selling points to show employers that you'll have as a fresh instructor, besides your personality, are your instructor certificates and languages. Languages being of higher importance in most places, but it's tougher to train those to teaching level(but by all means, go ahead and learn german, french, spanish, italian, chinese or japanese if you think you can get them to teaching level).

 

[ams511]

I am not a dive professional but I do have a Naui dive master book that I received with a group bulk purchase. On of the things mentioned in the book is that resorts prefer instructors over dive masters because they can use instructors for more things. They also mention that it is good to have another skill like fixing boats and such. I am sure the advice on languages is a good one too. I remember in Hawaii one of the dive masters spoke Japanese.

My advice is don't quit your day jobs and become dive masters to moonlight in a dive shop to learn the business and see if it something you want to do.

I remember a thread a while back taking about becoming a dive pro. Instructors were paid next to nothing because the shops had their last batch of candidates working for free and getting more certifications to build up their experience level.

 

[TMHeimer]

You said becoming "professional divers". I assume you mean dive Instructors. I personally would classify pro divers as Commercial divers (apparently lots money and risk and not lots of fun), or anyone who makes a living actually diving (scientific fields, etc.). In going the dive Instructor route this would mean teaching diving all the time. Having been a school teacher, I know you have to have a certain "temperment", for lack of a better word. Rapport with students, and enjoy working with them and being a leader. I'm sure you have considered that aspect. One of the reasons I like being a DM is I get to help students and the buck doesn't stop with me. 19 years of that in school was enough.

 

[GillScales]

1. Buy or lease boat

2. Charter divs for all the other instructors who don't have boats

3. Profit.

 

[Searcaigh]

A few other places such as the UAE can also be good money, as long as you can stand working there.

I guess you have never been to the UAE

The people I know working here at dive ops don't make a lot of money.

 

[RJP]

I guess you have never been to the UAE

The people I know working here at dive ops don't make a lot of money.

That would make the UAE the same as every other dive location in the world.

:d

---------- Post added June 2nd, 2013 at 07:49 AM ----------

Yeah, any feedback would help loads, thanks for your time!

Best regards, Mathew and Brittany.

Is your SB profile correct? Says you're not even certified yet? If that's the case you might to get at least ONE dive under your belt and see if you even enjoy it as a hobby... Much less as a profession.

As others have said above, if you do want to be able to work at a resort you will need additional, valuable skills beyond being an instructor. No one will hire you to be "just an instructor" since there are many other jobs to be done. You'll need to be able to do double, or even triple duty, if you expect to be hired. Such valuable skills would include more than one of the following:
- having a boat captain's license
- being a diesel mechanic
- being FLUENT in a foreign language (ideally multiple, depending on location)
- degree/training/experience in hospitality
- retail management experience

On a liveaboard for sure you will have about five different jobs to do, the least important of which will be dive instructor.

Also, keep in mind that the likelihood of finding a resort/boat/shop that wants to hire TWO novice instructors at the same time dwindles to about zero.

---------- Post added June 2nd, 2013 at 07:55 AM ----------

1. Buy or lease boat

2. Charter divs for all the other instructors who don't have boats

3. Profit.

Your profile lists "Landlocked" as your location, so you'll be excused for mistakenly using the word "profit" in the same sentence as "buy a boat" and "run charters."

:d

 

[mv3p0]

I think some of you misunderstand. As I said, SCUBA is something we are CONSIDERING as we both have always enjoyed everything to do with the water.
I was simply posting this to get an idea as to where we would be able to work if we did decide to follow through. As I also said, we are signed up for a couple of dives with a local shop to see if we even will like it.
Like I also said, we do not care about how much money, as long as it is enough to live and be in another country that's all we care about. So far, save a couple replies, every thing you guys have posted I could have found online, now I don't mean to sound ungrateful but the only reason I joined this board was to get advice from people that have actually done something with SCUBA. Maybe I should just stick with this local guy.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, but I was not looking or advice on what to do with my life, I simply wanted to know what opportunities lie ahead.

 

[SeaHawk12]

TBH, what's been said is pretty much all of the relevant information on the topic. Assuming you find you love the sport and have the correct attitude to teach/work with new divers, becoming a Divemaster of instructor would be entering yourselves into the extremely competitive job market for dive professionals. Your success would depend on the certifications you hold, as well as the other job qualifications you have. Of course, the more unique you are, the better your chances of employment are.

In terms of being a couple, I will note that people do occasionally look specifically for instructor couples, and, more commonly, female instructors and DMs.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Check out the book "Does this Island have a Bottom?". The author is here on SB as well.


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